U.S. National Debt Is Equal To $53,000 Per American

Our national debt has exceeded $17 trillion, and two-thirds of the that is owed to the public, businesses and foreign governments, according to a nifty infographic from accounting-degree.org. The infographic tries to put the national debt (a number difficult to fathom) into perspective for the average citizen, saying the U.S. is in debt about $53,433 per American. That's slightly less than the median yearly household income of $55,030 for the U.S. in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Our debt-to-GDP ratio is 70 percent, which puts us below Germany (81%), Canada (85.4%) and the United Kingdom (88.7%). Generally, the lower the ratio, the better. High national debt means rising interest rates, weak job markets and higher taxes. Check out the full infographic for more information:
Source: Accounting-Degree.org